


Chicago Saved

by WPAdmirer



Series: Chicago Stories I [22]
Category: ER, X-Files - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-21
Updated: 2011-02-21
Packaged: 2017-10-15 20:06:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/164489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WPAdmirer/pseuds/WPAdmirer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Walter rescues John Carter, and John Carter helps in his own rescue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chicago Saved

**Author's Note:**

> AUTHOR'S NOTES: I got tired of waiting for some good John Carter slash, and there's never enough Skinner fic to suit me.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: It's not the author's intention to infringe upon or profit from the characters created and owned by Chris Carter, 1013 Productions or the Fox Network, nor Warner Brothers and NBC. Skinner and Carter were borrowed temporarily and returned almost immediately. Mulder and Scully are only visiting. Krycek is unwelcome.
> 
> SPECIAL THANKS: To KiMeriKal and Crysothemis for beta reading and friendship.

John watched the big orange cat stalk the squirrel in the backyard. The squirrel seemed completely unaware of the cat, as it blithely moved about the yard. The cat moved in quarter inches, staying completely still for minutes at a time. John wished he could bang on the window or shout. He didn't want the cat to catch the squirrel. He was identifying a little too strongly with the small grey creature.

He heard the door behind him opened and felt himself tense up. The nurse came around to the side of the bed and John relaxed. The man went about checking how John's incision was healing, the status of fluids going in and coming out, temperature and blood pressure. He never spoke to John.

The door opened again and John heard his voice.

"How is he?"

The nurse answered quietly. "He's doing well."

"I need to move him soon."

The nurse nodded. "I'd give it a couple of days, but the incision is healing nicely and his vitals are all stable."

"I'll give it one day."

The nurse nodded again. He pushed the pump to the bedside. John closed his eyes. God, he hated this. He could feel the ng tube being connected and a moment later the liquid being pumped through it into his stomach.

The door closed again, but John kept his eyes closed until the feeding was completed. When he felt the ng tube being disconnected from the pump he looked out and saw the cat pounce onto the squirrel. He clenched his fists and realized that he was screaming inside his head. The cat seemed to have the squirrel in his grasp when suddenly the squirrel got away, streaking across the yard and up a tree before the cat could follow.

The nurse put away the machine and a moment later John heard him close the door as he left the room. The orange cat sat in the middle of the yard, his tail twitching angrily as he stared at the tree the squirrel had disappeared into. Then the cat turned and stared at the window where John watched. His green eyes seemed to glare at John.

John Carter felt absurdly pleased that the cat had lost his prey. For no rational reason it gave him hope.  
***

It was dark outside when John snapped awake. He couldn't remember what he was dreaming, and didn't know what had made him wake up. John heard a gunshot and the door to his room swung open with a bang and was quickly slammed shut.

A man holding a gun came to the side of the bed. He looked at John with bright green eyes and smiled. "You must be one hell of a fuck."

The door burst open, sounding like it was exploding. The green-eyed man raised his gun and pointed it at the door.

"If you've hurt him, Krycek…"

Walter!

"If you don't want him to die, you'll back off right now."

"I want to hear his voice. I want to be sure you haven't killed him already."

Krycek looked at John and shook his head. "Well, that's going to be a little tough, isn't it, Dr. Carter?" He looked back towards the door. "He's got this tube down his throat, and damned if I know how to remove it. I tell you what, Skinner. I'll untie his hand, he can wave to you. Will that do?"

"Do it."

Krycek reached down and loosened the restraint until John could pull his hand out of it. Then he patted John's face. "Wave to lover boy, honey."

John raised his arm into the air and wiggled his hand. He heard Walter's sigh of relief.

"Now here's the deal, Skinner. You're going to close that door and back up all the way into the front hall. Then I'm going to leave. You're going to wait ten minutes, then you're going to come back in here and rescue your little fuck-toy."

"Don't do it, sir. Krycek can't be trusted."

John Carter closed his eyes. Mulder.

"I'm hurt, Mulder. After all we've been through together."

"Shut up, both of you. Move away from John Carter."

Krycek shook his head. "You're not grasping the situation here, Skinner. I will kill him. I have killed you and I won't hesitate to do it again. So your choices are either back off and he lives, or stay here and watch him die."

Krycek had killed Walter. John Carter looked up at him. Krycek was focused on the door. John's hand balled into a fist. Krycek was standing next to the bed, his crotch at just the perfect height. John drew back and put his weight and his anger behind the punch.

Krycek let out a scream and dropped to the floor.

Walter quickly appeared at the side of the bed. John was shocked at how bad he looked. His face was deeply lined, and there were dark half-moons below his eyes.

"John Carter," he said softly and then he pressed a kiss against John's forehead. "You're safe now. You're safe." Walter lifted his head, turned toward Mulder, "Get that nurse. I want this tube out of his throat now."

Mulder was kneeling with one knee on Krycek's back. He handcuffed Krycek and pulled him to his feet. "Yes, sir."

Walter untied his other hand and moved to remove the restraints around his chest and ankles. He sat on the edge of the bed and stroked John Carter's face with one hand. John leaned into the warmth and strength of the hand on his face.

"I'm so sorry," Walter spoke quietly.

John reached up and touched the hand against his face. He didn't want Walter feeling guilty.

The nurse walked into the room and stood by the opposite side of the bed. He had a badly swelling bruise on one side of his face, and an eye that going to be closed for a while. "You want him extubated?"

Walter raised the gun and pointed it at the nurse. "I want the tube out of his throat so he can talk to me. And you'd better hope like hell he doesn't have much to say about you."

"I don't normally do this."

"I don't give a flying fuck if you've never done it. He's a doctor. He'll let both of us know if you're doing something wrong. Don't do anything wrong." Walter's brown eyes were dark with threat. John reached out and pulled the hand with the gun down.

The nurse looked a little less frightened as he began the process of removing the tube. He moved quickly and in a moment John was coughing, making noise for the first time in days. It felt good. His throat was scratchy and raw, but he didn't care. It felt good to be able to hear himself. He motioned toward the ng tube. "This one, too, Walter."

Walter looked at the nurse who immediately began removing the ng tube. John gagged a little as it was brought up out of his esophagus. One thing about the last few days, he would never look upon intubating or dropping a ng tube the same again. It fucking hurt.

The nurse stepped away from the bed and there was a gunshot outside the room. Walter jumped up from the bed and ran out into the hallway. The nurse stood, looking dumbfounded.

"Hey," John Carter said. "How about getting rid of this Foley before Walter gets back?"

The nurse hesitated.

"I don't want to have to tell Walter you've been touching my penis. He's very territorial." John smiled and cleared his throat. He wanted all the tubes out of him, and he really preferred that Walter not see him with a catheter. As intimate as they'd been, this would be embarrassing. And it felt like the tube was the size of a firehose. John had never realized how painful catheters and ngs were, but now he would never forget.

The nurse moved quickly to remove the catheter. He had just finished when there were voices in the hallway outside the door. A small woman with bright red hair and huge blue eyes appeared next to the bed.

"Walter wants me to check you over, make sure you're okay before we move you."

"Who are you?"

The woman grinned, "Dana Scully. I believe you've met my partner, Agent Mulder."

John nodded. "Where's Walter?"

"He'll be back in a few minutes. He 's outside checking on something."

John knew an evasive answer when he heard one. This woman not only reminded him of Kerry Weaver she was just about as good at deception. Meaning she didn't do it worth a damn.

"I want to get up."

"I don't think that's a good idea. You had surgery two days ago. We'll get an ambulance and have you taken back to the hospital."

John groaned, and at the same time heard Walter's voice behind him.

"No, we won't. He's going home with me."

"But, sir…."

Walter stepped up to Dana Scully forcing her to lean her head back in order to see his face, trying to intimidate her with his size. She was having none of it. She didn't step back. She simply looked up and stared at him.

"He's going home with me. That's the end of it."

"He should be in a hospital." Mulder walked into the room carrying what appeared to be a prosthetic arm. He pushed the nurse out of his way. He tossed the arm onto the foot of the bed. "The Gunmen think they may be able to track him down if he tries to get a new prosthetic. This one's apparently cutting edge technology. Byers says there's only a couple of places in the states making them."

"I'll leave that to you," Walter said. He sat on the side of the bed, reaching out to stroke the side of John's face, his warm fingers smoothing John's beard. "Can you sit up, John Carter?"

"No time like the present to find out." John sat up slowly. Walter braced him, pulling him up so that he didn't have to put much stress on his ribs. The ribs definitely hurt. It was going to be weeks before he could get out of bed without having to roll out. "Okay, that hurt," John said gasping a little.

"Sir…."

"I'm not going to the hospital," John said. He looked at Dana Scully. "I'm going home with Walter."

Scully shook her head and threw up her hands in surrender. "Fine. Do what you want." She left the room.

"Need some help?" Mulder asked.

John looked up and saw that the nurse was moving toward the door, getting ready to make a dash for it. Mulder saw John look and reached out and grabbed the man by the arm. "That is so rude," Mulder chastised, "leaving without saying goodbye." Mulder looked to Walter. "I'll be right back, sir."

Walter pulled John back against his chest, holding him close. John could feel the heat of Walter's body through the thin gown he was wearing. "Krycek is the man who killed you."

John felt Walter nod.

"You should have killed him."

Walter sighed. "Probably." He kissed the top of John's head.

"How did he get away?"

"He must have had a handcuff key, or he picked the lock. Freed the prosthetic, then took it off and hit Mulder with it."

"Mulder shot at him?"

"Yes. He hit the arm, Krycek dropped it and ran."

"I want to go home, Walter." John gripped both of Walter's hands in his. "Take me home."

Walter nodded. "You should give a couple of days, then I'll put you on a plane back to Chicago."

John Carter pulled away and turned so he was facing Walter. "No, I mean home, with you."

Walter smiled then took John's face into his hands. He leaned forward and kissed John's mouth. John recognized the taste, dark and smokey and undeniably Walter. He felt himself fall into the heat and wet of Walter's mouth, allowing Walter's tongue to take possession of his breath. When Walter pulled away, John felt dizzy, but in a good way.  
***

The ride back to Walter's was hellish. It seemed to take forever, and John felt every bump in the road. He didn't think anyone had worse roads than Chicago, but he was learning different. Mulder drove and Walter sat turned toward the back so he could hold John's hand. Stretched out in the back seat, wrapped in a blanket, the car's heater blasting, John could still feel cold air blowing on him. Then he saw a sheet of plastic had been duct-taped to the passenger side window of the front seat. Somewhere behind the pain he wondered why the window was open like that.

At Walter's building, Mulder had helped as Walter carried him into the elevator and then down the hall to Walter's apartment. When John was at last settled into Walter's big bed, buried under a layer of blankets and given some pain medication, he began to relax, letting his eyes close, and the softness surround him.

He didn't remember hearing Mulder leave, but when Walter's naked body slid under the covers and against his, it felt like heaven.

"I should call and let Kerry know…" John mumbled.

"Already done. She'll tell people you were in an accident. Get you a week or so off."

John nodded and moved closer to Walter, pulling Walter's arm across his body. "Walter, I knew you'd find me."

Walter buried his face against the back of John's neck. John could feel Walter's hot, moist breath against his skin. "He hurt you."

"Not as much as he hurt you. I'll heal."

John felt Walter kiss the back of his neck. "It will never happen again. I'm going to resign. I'll be no good to him then. He'll leave you alone."

The words registered slowly, but when they did, John pulled away and sat up, yelping with pain at the movement. "You're going to what?"

Walter's eyes were huge, dark pools that seemed to have no light. It was as though something in him had died. "I'm going to resign from the F.B.I. He wants to use me. If I quit, he won't be able to."

"If you quit he'll kill you."

Walter shrugged. "At least you'll be safe."

John pushed Walter away. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare put this on me! You told me the risks when we started this and I told you then I was willing to take them. If you quit now, you make everything that's happened to both of us meaningless. Krycek will have no reason to keep you alive!"

"You don't understand, John Carter."

"Yes, I do. You think you caused this. You didn't. That bastard Krycek did this. Don't you dare give up." John tried to take a deep breath and winced. He saw the concern in Walter's face.

"I don't want him to hurt you. If I get out, I'm useless to them. They might leave me alone."

John shook his head. "Now who's delusional? I listened to that bastard talk for days. He will kill you the minute he can. You quit, you're dead. I will not let you commit suicide. Do you hear me? I love you, Walter. If you die, I lose everything. We lose everything."

Walter was unreadable. John leaned toward him and placed his lips on Walter's, using his tongue to force Walter's mouth open, savoring the taste of Walter. His ribs hurt, but he ignored them and put all his focus into the kiss. Finally he had to take a breath and was forced to break away. John lay back down, taking short panting breaths to not expand his diaphragm too much.

Walter's hand stroked along his chest, across the bruised ribs. "Oh, John Carter," Walter said softly. John smiled. He could hear the acquiescence in Walter's voice.

"I know," John said.

Walter moved closer to him, putting his head on John's pillow, nuzzling his nose against John's neck.

They held each other as they drifted off into sleep.


End file.
